"Celebrate the 8 Wonders" Community Research Project
developed by Amy Brownlee & Jill Britton
Grades: 5 and up
NOTE: Information and links below come from a presentations given at the KASL District IV Workshop in Ellsworth, KS on Oct. 18, 2008, and at the SCKLS Summer Reading workshop on Feb. 26, 2009.
developed by Amy Brownlee & Jill Britton
Grades: 5 and up
NOTE: Information and links below come from a presentations given at the KASL District IV Workshop in Ellsworth, KS on Oct. 18, 2008, and at the SCKLS Summer Reading workshop on Feb. 26, 2009.
I’m so proud that you used the 8 Wonders like this. This is one of the best applications I’ve seen. Thank you so much for sharing it with me. Best of all, I learned some things about Sterling I didn’t know! " Marci Penner, Director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation |
Learn how Sterling fifth graders created a narrated slide show that highlights the wonderful things about their community. “The Wonders of Sterling,” a collaborative project between LMS Amy Brownlee and fifth-grade social studies/language arts teacher Jill Britton, was based on the “8 Wonders of Kansas” contest sponsored by the Kansas Sampler Foundation, and inspired by the book The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs by Betty Birney. Students were challenged to discover the wonders of their own community in eight different areas: art, architecture, commerce, cuisine, customs, geography, history, and people. After researching, interviewing community members, visiting local people and places, and taking digital photos, the fifth graders created a narrated PhotoStory slide show featuring their top three “candidates” in each category. The slide show was presented to all Sterling Grade School students and staff, who were invited to vote for their favorites in each category. This session will explain the skills, process, time, materials and equipment needed to challenge your own students to discover the hidden wonders in their own community.
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TECHNOLOGY LINKS:
DOCUMENTS, AUDIO AND VIDEO FILES:
(access folder of all 9 files listed below)
8 Wonders Resources
A list of web sites, equipment and materials needed, audience and presentation notes.
8 Wonders Unit Plan
An outline of our lesson plans for the 5 weeks we spent working with students on the project. Includes details on how the resources were used, exactly what skills were involved, when we introduced each skill or component of the project, and notes about what we would do differently next time.
Library sample
A sample PhotoStory I created over the libraries of Sterling to give kids a feel for how their presentations should look with an introduction, imported PowerPoint slides, narration on every slide, background music, etc. This is NOT a finished product – it is a rough draft designed to give kids the “big picture.” (Plays in Windows Media Player)
Audio minilesson
A PowerPoint slide with four embedded audio clips of bad narration. Kids had a ball listening to this and telling me what I did wrong on each example. It was very effective in keeping kids from making the same mistakes.
Commerce final
The finished version of the project created by our fifth-grade “commerce” group. Plays in Windows Media Player. (This is one category of our entire project.)
Voting ballot
This is a PowerPoint copy of the ballot we used with students and staff when presenting the 8 Wonders. We paused after each category to let people vote and it worked GREAT! (created by Jill Britton)
Work Ethic rubric
I have often used this rubric on long-term projects to give kids points once or twice a week based on their work ethic shown in class each day.
Rubric
What the teacher used to grade the students. She mentioned that it looks simple, but she spent a great deal of time discussing it with students. (created by Jill Britton)
Press release
This is the article that appeared in our local newspaper and our district newsletter explaining the project and giving the results. The classroom teacher strongly felt it was best not to give specific number totals to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings if they didn’t get many votes. We felt that listing the places (1st, 2nd, 3rd) was sufficient.
- Freeplay Music -- Non-copyrighted music source
- Animoto -- free digital storytelling tool (dynamic, lots of movement)
- Eight Rural Culture Elements from the Kansas Sampler Foundation website: "Marci [Penner] and her father, Milferd Penner, came up with the eight elements of rural culture to help communities identify what they have and who they are. Those elements are: architecture, art, commerce, cuisine, customs, geography, history and people."
DOCUMENTS, AUDIO AND VIDEO FILES:
(access folder of all 9 files listed below)
8 Wonders Resources
A list of web sites, equipment and materials needed, audience and presentation notes.
8 Wonders Unit Plan
An outline of our lesson plans for the 5 weeks we spent working with students on the project. Includes details on how the resources were used, exactly what skills were involved, when we introduced each skill or component of the project, and notes about what we would do differently next time.
Library sample
A sample PhotoStory I created over the libraries of Sterling to give kids a feel for how their presentations should look with an introduction, imported PowerPoint slides, narration on every slide, background music, etc. This is NOT a finished product – it is a rough draft designed to give kids the “big picture.” (Plays in Windows Media Player)
Audio minilesson
A PowerPoint slide with four embedded audio clips of bad narration. Kids had a ball listening to this and telling me what I did wrong on each example. It was very effective in keeping kids from making the same mistakes.
Commerce final
The finished version of the project created by our fifth-grade “commerce” group. Plays in Windows Media Player. (This is one category of our entire project.)
Voting ballot
This is a PowerPoint copy of the ballot we used with students and staff when presenting the 8 Wonders. We paused after each category to let people vote and it worked GREAT! (created by Jill Britton)
Work Ethic rubric
I have often used this rubric on long-term projects to give kids points once or twice a week based on their work ethic shown in class each day.
Rubric
What the teacher used to grade the students. She mentioned that it looks simple, but she spent a great deal of time discussing it with students. (created by Jill Britton)
Press release
This is the article that appeared in our local newspaper and our district newsletter explaining the project and giving the results. The classroom teacher strongly felt it was best not to give specific number totals to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings if they didn’t get many votes. We felt that listing the places (1st, 2nd, 3rd) was sufficient.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or just to let me know how it goes if you adapt this project in your own community.
